A quick train trip through Austria will bring us to Italy and the end of train travel for a while. We decided to rent a car in Italy for three weeks using our Airmile points. However, at this point, we've left our future hostel/hotel arrangements to fate for awhile. Two trains later, we were in Italy and headed for Bolzano to pick up our car. Along the way, we had to have beer in Austria, for my staff (I've promised to drink a beer for them in every country we go to), so we drank it in front of an Innsbruck ski jump. Although we didn't count Austria as one of our countries, we certainly enjoyed the beautiful train ride through it. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so we could see to the tops of the mountains but also into the deep luscious green valleys. Huge bridges with arches and massive pillars were often above us - a strange view, seeing roads above. The homes and villages were beautifully kept with manicured gardens and yards. We brought lunch and snacks so the kids were happy, and Barry and I got to eat "Light Spicy Thai with a touch of Coconut" Pringle potato chips! Weird.

When we arrived in Bolzano, we had a bit of a shock. Very hot and no English spoken anywhere. Luckily, a young woman understood the words "car rental", so we walked in the direction she had motioned and found the National car rental agency, but couldn't see Alamo anywhere. We made a team decision to ask at National. It paid off because National was also the agent for Alamo! They brought our car around, but it was absolutely not what we had expected at all. We had an Alfa Romeo sports car for three weeks. It had six gears, but Margaret vowed Barry would not be going fast enough to use the sixth one!! It had lots of power and a super cool interior, quite a step up from our Scottish Citroen which was as wide as a sheep. So, off we went on a quest to re-enact our honeymoon (not what you think!).

On our honeymoon, we got lost and ended up in a beautiful 5 star hotel which was dirt cheap and absolutely perfect. We knew it was near a place called San Nazario. We followed the secondary highway towards Trento and it took a really, really long time; so we switched to the ss47 and it still took a really, really long time. Finally, we got to the San Nazario area. Unfortunately, we didn't find the same hotel, although much of our original experience did reoccur with us asking directions, getting lost, and asking for directions again. Finally, we found an Albergo (hotel), but they were full. However, the manager phoned ahead to another Albergo and got us the last two rooms. After settling in, we went down for dinner. We'd forgotten that Italians eat several courses, so we just had the primo course of pasta followed with a plate of cheese. Exhausted after our long train ride and drive, we went to sleep in a humid, hot night with the night sounds of an Italian couple yelling at one another. Ahhh...Italia...